Physical force Irish republicanism is the recurring appearance of a non-parliamentary violent insurrection in Ireland between 1798 and the present.[1] It is often described as a rival to parliamentary nationalism which for most of the period drew the predominant amount of support from Irish nationalists.

A commitment to an Irish republic which stressed the rights of the Irish people as a community to independence and the ownership of Ireland rather than to individual rights, such as the rights to private property;

The holding of a series of rebellions or campaigns, sometimes with minimal support, but some of which impacted upon parliamentary nationalism;

A demand to break all links with the United Kingdom through the use of force.

It was the Volunteers of 1782 which would launch a paramilitary tradition in Irish politics, a tradition, whether nationalist or unionist, has continued to shape Irish political activity with the ethos of "the force of argument had been trumped by the argument of force".[3] Irish republicanism an offspring of the Volunteers of 1782, owes much to influences of both the American and French revolutions.[4]

The United Irishmen of 1798 were a mass movement, largely led by liberal Protestants, who desired to "break the connection with England" and found a non-sectarian Irish Republic. To this end, they secured French military aid and launched their own rebellion. Robert Emmett's abortive rebellion of 1803 was essentially an aftershock of the 1798 rebellion. It was confined to a skirmish in Dublin, after which Emmett was hanged.

The Young Ireland rebellion of 1848 was launched in frustration with the failure of Daniel O'Connell's Repeal Association movement to secure the repeal of the Union, or self-government for Ireland. The Young Irelanders had previously supported O'Connell until he cancelled plans for a mass rally under British threat of force. The 1848 rebellion was a failure, launched during the Great Irish Famine, it did not address any of the social and economic questions of the day, and weaken the strength of the parliamentary movement of the recently deceased Daniel O'Connell.

The 1867 rebellion of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) was the culmination of several years of agitation by this secret, oath-bound organisation. The IRB, or Fenians, planned a national insurrection and the foundation of an Irish Republic with the aid of radicalised Irish units in the British Army. Although the Fenians had some success in infiltrating army units and had a considerable presence in parts of Ireland, the British took steps to remove seditious army units from Ireland and the rebellion was launched against the better judgement of the IRB leadership on the urgings of the American based Fenian Brotherhood. It was unsuccessful in a military sense with only isolated skirmishes taking place but did become a focal point in Irish revolutionary folklore, inspiring later generations of rebels. Clan na Gael later conducted several bombing attacks in England and attempted to free their imprisoned allies. One such raid resulted in the hanging of three IRB men, known as the "Manchester Martyrs", for the killing of a policeman.

The 1916 Easter Rising was launched by the IRB, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army. It had a dramatic impact in achieving Irish independence. Though support for the insurgents was small, the execution of fifteen people by firing squad, the imprisonment or internment of hundreds more, and the imposition of martial law caused a profound shift in public opinion towards the republican cause in Ireland.[5] It allowed the surviving rising leader Éamon de Valera to win a majority for the separatist Sinn Féin party in the 1918 general election. Sinn Féin then declared the Irish Republic to be in existence. Its parliament, the First Dáil first met in January 1919, and the British declared it an illegal assembly shortly afterwards. At around the same time, the Volunteers, now organised as the Irish Republican Army began a guerrilla war, the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921), against the British Government in Ireland. By July 1921, the campaign had brought the British Government to the conclusion that it would have to negotiate with the Dáil to end the violence. The war was ended with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which created an independent Irish dominion known as the Irish Free State for 26 of Ireland's 32 counties. The remaining 6 were to remain in the UK as Northern Ireland. The Treaty was narrowly passed in the Dáil in January 1922.

While the leadership of the IRA, Michael Collins and Richard Mulcahy, in the forefront in accepting the treaty, the majority of the Army did not accept the abolition of the Irish Republic and abandonment of the First Dáil. In April 1922, they formed their own "Army Executive" and renounced the authority of the Dáil to accept the Treaty. Political leaders such as Éamon de Valera and Cathal Brugha, also unhappy with the Treaty, supported their actions. These tensions ultimately plunged the new Irish state into civil war (1922–1923). Ultimately, the Irish Free State put down the Anti-treaty IRA and ended the war by May 1923, though not before the deaths of many of those who had fought together in 1919–1921.

Physical force republicanism continued on after 1923. As a result of the Treaty and the Civil War, Republicans saw both states in Ireland as being British imposed "imperialist" proxies. However, by the 1930s the bulk of the Civil War Anti-Treaty republicans had accepted the Irish Free state and entered its government as Fianna Fáil. The remnants of the IRA continued to see themselves as the Army of the Irish Republic, temporarily suppressed by force of arms (though they too banned armed action by their members against the southern Irish state in 1948). They launched unsuccessful armed campaigns in England in the 1940s and in Northern Ireland in the 1950s aimed at achieving a United Ireland. The Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) and its political wing, Sinn Féin went through periodic splits, most dramatically in 1969 when two IRAs emerged, the Official IRA (OIRA) and the Provisional IRA (PIRA), along with two Sinn Féins; Sinn Féin – Gardiner Place or Official Sinn Féin and Sinn Féin – Kevin St or Provisional Sinn Féin.

While the "Official" republican movement wanted to move away from traditional physical force republicanism and towards Marxist political activism,[6] the "Provisionals", reacting to the outbreak of communal violence in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles, wanted to first defend the Catholic population of the North from attack and then launch an armed offensive against British rule there. The PIRA proceeded to do this from 1969 until 1997 (see Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997), when it called a ceasefire. The PIRA is responsible for roughly 1,800 deaths in the "Troubles". Its political wing, Sinn Féin entered negotiations towards a political settlement in Northern Ireland.

In 2005 Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams called on the Provisional IRA to move from physical force activity to exclusively democratic means.[7] Three months later the IRA Army Council announced an end to the IRA's armed campaign, stating that it would work to achieve its aims using "purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means" and that IRA "Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever."[8]

Patrick Pearse
"President of the Provisional Government", leader of the 1916 Rising.

The "Officials" eventually abandoned militarism altogether but not before spawning a militant splinter group, the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in 1974 and its political wing the Irish Republican Socialist Party. The INLA is a Marxist revolutionary group and has carried out over 100 killings during the Northern Ireland conflict. It has been on a "no first strike" ceasefire since 1998.

When Sinn Féin voted to recognise the Dáil of the Republic of Ireland and enter it (if elected) in 1986, a small group that included many of the founders of the Provisional movement broke away from Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA and formed Republican Sinn Féin and its own small Continuity IRA. They continue to oppose both states in Ireland.

Another small splinter group emerged from the Provisional IRA in 1998, when it was clear that the organisation was preparing to accept a political solution short of a united Ireland. This group of disaffected PIRA members called themselves the Real IRA and want to continue "armed struggle" against British rule in Northern Ireland. Neither the CIRA nor the RIRA have the support, numbers or capability once possessed by the Provisional IRA.

The conceptualization of physical force was more than a natural capability that deployed actual bodily violence in the service of political objectives. It was the Italian renaissance philosopher, Niccolo Macchiavelli, who first wrote in ''The Prince'' that "the end justifies the means". After the policy of Official Reprisals was adopted by the British from 1920 onwards, it became apparent, that in response there was a shift in attitudinal stance amongst republicans, particularly regarding the use of violent insurrection. The use of forcible entry to property actively engaged the attention of the republican high command in contemplation of the damage they could inflict on the enemy. The contribution to this debate from Michael Collins is well-recorded, yet amongst irishry more generally, the escalation was not thoroughly discussed.

After the Great War many irish soldiers returned home to find their country on the brink of internecine conflict. The fear of reprisals at first restrained the use of physical force in retaliation. But much of the philosophical grounding in support for revolution was articulated through the refounded universities. Frenchman and professor at National University of Dublin, Dr Roger Chauvire, using the pseudonym, Sylvain Briollay, expressed the dominant colours of Ireland as an abstraction of the French revolutionary tri-couleur. D P Moran had long been a nationalist thinker and writer, who supported the use of force, as a transience from Anglo-Irish ascendancy towards a gaelic identity. The Abbey Theatre was another arena for expression outwith the plays of James Joyce, W B Yeats, and Lady Gregory. But perhaps the most pugilistic was the Marxist-inspired ''Plough Under the Stars'' and existentialist ''Juno and the Paycock'' both penned by the mercurial penmanship of Sean O'Casey. The active discussion of physical fighting on stage mirrored actual events on the streets, almost as they were happening. Unequivocally stated the nationalism was overtly gaelic in language and perception. And through the convenient medium of acting, women became supported in rights, even to the point of soldiery. Constance Markiewicz's heroism was marked by an historic physicality engaged with audiences on stage and in front of Mountjoy Prison. Manning the Dublin Barricades, she joined others, including the actress Maud Gonne, who married an IRA soldier.

Irish philosophy for the revolution lent heavily on its most famous living poet James Joyce. Ulysses became an international bestseller, containing within its Homeric odes, the advocacy of war and violence to achieve freedom, recognition, and manliness. The concept of irishness was inextricably linked belief in "Green" shirted self-determination. To the iRA independence and its pursuit to the point of self-sacrifice was a noble death, blessed by the Catholic faith, non-Marxist, but deeply symbolic of Ireland's long and troubled history. Pride in battle, was recently demonstrated by nationalist commitment to British Army in disproportionately high numbers. To men like Collins British defeat was only possible by implacable, and relentless attack that was ruthless, evincing deep hatreds, and profound conflict. The psychological barriers to murder, extortion, racketeering, ambuscade, and arson, were intensified in the knowledge that victims were neighbours, who had once lived peaceably side-by-side.

Physical force was essential for a military victory. Yet behind it, lay a carefully constructed campaign of organization, preparation and planning that extended back at least twenty years. The Gaelicization of Ireland went back to 1870's but begain in earnest in 1890's. A policy that encouraged the training of youth, ''Fianna Eireann'' to think, talk, and behave in the mode of irish language speakers. Knowing that force would be used in the future, a generation of catholic irish grew up with a policy of expunging all English culture from national life. This reached a high pitch with the play Cathleen ni Houlihan in Abbey Theatre, Dublin that openly disavowed British rule, and spoke of hardship, poverty and oppression. Whilst the revolutionary idea may have begun with gaelicization, it ended with violent insurrection, and the wholesale devastation of Dublin. It found moment and purpose in the guerilla warfare tactics applied by Ernie O'Malley, Sean O'Hegarty and Liam Mellows; whilst the brains behind military planning of Richard Mulcahy, and Collins himself above all justified assassination as a "Sword of Light" guiding a secret underground campaign of espionage.